How to express yourself in Italian without translating literally from English

The question “how old are you?” is the example I often use to try to stop my students translating everything they want to say very literally from English to Italian.

The literal translation of “how old are you?” in Italian would be “quanto vecchio sei tu?” Here, we have two problems: first the position of the subject, verb and adjective, which fails to obey the rules of Italian; and then the meaning.

Italians will not understand your question and, worse than this, they will probably be offended (as you are suggesting they look old!) In the end, it is easier (and less risky!) to learn key Italian phrases without trying to translate directly from English.

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When you learn a language it’s good to have different tools – learning a language using songs, videos and films is relaxing and fun, and can help you to enjoy the learning activity. You’ll find that you can memorise the exercise much more quickly than with a written grammar exercise.
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